Scott Williams was hearing rumors. Josh and Kylie from Barracks B sad they were at lunch and over heard upper officials. Something about a problem with the Lake.
The Lake had always been a point of tension. It was the only thing that connected the tribes, no matter where you were in Gator Bay, the Lake watched over you. Some believe that it watched so closely that it had become something of a deity. A grand force connecting all living beings, and at its heart, Gator Bay’s Gator.
He was named Lucky at some point. His gleaming white and pink scaled back could be seen reflecting in the moonlight even on the darkest of nights. Lucky ruled his domain. He was a gentle god, he stayed in his sacred waters and didn’t bother those that stayed on the shore.
Some believed this was not the case. They believed that we the people of the shore were only in Lucky’s good graces because of their doing. Those were of course the People of the Lake, or the Lake tribe. Whenever they felt as if Lucky was coming closer to the shore or soon to be meddling in man’s territories they would don their black robes. The robes were intended as a symbol of respect, but we all knew it was to hide the faces of those committing the unfortunate to death. Tossing the unwilling into the dark depths as a gift for their god, Lucky. Other tribes watched on as there people and those around hem were snatched up in the middle of the night or ostracized by their very neighbors. Witch hunts driven bu greed an petty arguments, ending in choosing a candidate for the honor of being sacrificed into the lake. An honor, which was always driven by an angry mob and an unwilling sacrifice. The Nature tribe did not agree with the practices but said nothing, the Military stayed within its walls, and the Church of Fertility closed their doors, afraid that they would lose even a fraction of the fertile future they believed so deeply in.
Now there were grim rumors that Lucky had left his quiet waters.
Scott heard this had happened once before. In the early Spring after a particularly long and harsh Winter, the great albino beast roamed the shore and cruised through towns. This was long before Scott was born, closer to the war then they were now. But Scott could only imagine the people hiding behind doors and low brick walls trying to avoid the glare of the hungry monstrosity. Some say that was when the Lake Tribe proclaimed their god, and perhaps when something snapped in their heads. That was the day they began rounding up the infertile and dumping them bound and helpless into the murky cold waters of Dead Horse Bay.
Lucky did return, whether it be for the food or because he was sick of walking on such rough soil. Either way the Bay was a grotesque cemetery, a mass grave of the unfortunate.
“Something about a kid and a radioactive bomb lookin thing!” Kylie sat down on the cot behind Scott, wallowing in the juicy tidbits they learned.
Josh stood at the end of the neatly tucked cot, “Not a bomb.”
“Sure could’a been”
“Scott, it wasn’t a bomb. They seemed like they already knew about this kid, he is some sort of engineering prodigy. Had a big sphere strapped to his back.”
“Just like the ole nukes!”
Josh sat down on the metal worn crate and folded his arms to lean on the end of the bed frame. “Kylie do you not understand how big nukes were? They wiped out cities, you couldn’t carry them on your back.”
“You ain’t ever seen one though so.”
Josh put his head down in the crook of his arm.
Scott was thinking. What does all of this matter anyway, they are behind big enough walls that even Lucky the Great couldn’t scoff at. “What does some kid and his boombox have to do with the big gator.”
Josh sat back up and began talking with his hands now that the question had sparked his interest. “You see that’s the thing. They think the beast is hungry, but hungry for radiation. Like it feeds off the very thing that is killing everything else.”
“I still don’t get it.” Scott said looking back at Kylie.
Kylie got closer to him engrossed in the drama of it all. “It’s followen the kid and his lil radiation box, far off enough the kid don’t even know. But we been tracking it and the big ole scaly thing is following right in his footsteps.”
“The gator wants the radiation in that thing on the kids back...”
Josh’s eyes grew wider, “And he is following it like the scent of blood in the water.”
Scott was looking down at his lap beginning to piece it all together. “Wait so that means that the radiation might be helping the gator, not just deforming it, if he wants it bad enough to leave his perfect home.”
“Right.” The other two said in unison.
‘Wouldn’t that be pretty valuable to know why it helps him and hurts everything else... including us?”
Josh stood up enjoying that they came to the same conclusion. “You’re damn right.”
Kylie stood up as well with fire in her eyes, “And Moby Dick himself is heading straight past our base!”
The Lake had always been a point of tension. It was the only thing that connected the tribes, no matter where you were in Gator Bay, the Lake watched over you. Some believe that it watched so closely that it had become something of a deity. A grand force connecting all living beings, and at its heart, Gator Bay’s Gator.
He was named Lucky at some point. His gleaming white and pink scaled back could be seen reflecting in the moonlight even on the darkest of nights. Lucky ruled his domain. He was a gentle god, he stayed in his sacred waters and didn’t bother those that stayed on the shore.
Some believed this was not the case. They believed that we the people of the shore were only in Lucky’s good graces because of their doing. Those were of course the People of the Lake, or the Lake tribe. Whenever they felt as if Lucky was coming closer to the shore or soon to be meddling in man’s territories they would don their black robes. The robes were intended as a symbol of respect, but we all knew it was to hide the faces of those committing the unfortunate to death. Tossing the unwilling into the dark depths as a gift for their god, Lucky. Other tribes watched on as there people and those around hem were snatched up in the middle of the night or ostracized by their very neighbors. Witch hunts driven bu greed an petty arguments, ending in choosing a candidate for the honor of being sacrificed into the lake. An honor, which was always driven by an angry mob and an unwilling sacrifice. The Nature tribe did not agree with the practices but said nothing, the Military stayed within its walls, and the Church of Fertility closed their doors, afraid that they would lose even a fraction of the fertile future they believed so deeply in.
Now there were grim rumors that Lucky had left his quiet waters.
Scott heard this had happened once before. In the early Spring after a particularly long and harsh Winter, the great albino beast roamed the shore and cruised through towns. This was long before Scott was born, closer to the war then they were now. But Scott could only imagine the people hiding behind doors and low brick walls trying to avoid the glare of the hungry monstrosity. Some say that was when the Lake Tribe proclaimed their god, and perhaps when something snapped in their heads. That was the day they began rounding up the infertile and dumping them bound and helpless into the murky cold waters of Dead Horse Bay.
Lucky did return, whether it be for the food or because he was sick of walking on such rough soil. Either way the Bay was a grotesque cemetery, a mass grave of the unfortunate.
“Something about a kid and a radioactive bomb lookin thing!” Kylie sat down on the cot behind Scott, wallowing in the juicy tidbits they learned.
Josh stood at the end of the neatly tucked cot, “Not a bomb.”
“Sure could’a been”
“Scott, it wasn’t a bomb. They seemed like they already knew about this kid, he is some sort of engineering prodigy. Had a big sphere strapped to his back.”
“Just like the ole nukes!”
Josh sat down on the metal worn crate and folded his arms to lean on the end of the bed frame. “Kylie do you not understand how big nukes were? They wiped out cities, you couldn’t carry them on your back.”
“You ain’t ever seen one though so.”
Josh put his head down in the crook of his arm.
Scott was thinking. What does all of this matter anyway, they are behind big enough walls that even Lucky the Great couldn’t scoff at. “What does some kid and his boombox have to do with the big gator.”
Josh sat back up and began talking with his hands now that the question had sparked his interest. “You see that’s the thing. They think the beast is hungry, but hungry for radiation. Like it feeds off the very thing that is killing everything else.”
“I still don’t get it.” Scott said looking back at Kylie.
Kylie got closer to him engrossed in the drama of it all. “It’s followen the kid and his lil radiation box, far off enough the kid don’t even know. But we been tracking it and the big ole scaly thing is following right in his footsteps.”
“The gator wants the radiation in that thing on the kids back...”
Josh’s eyes grew wider, “And he is following it like the scent of blood in the water.”
Scott was looking down at his lap beginning to piece it all together. “Wait so that means that the radiation might be helping the gator, not just deforming it, if he wants it bad enough to leave his perfect home.”
“Right.” The other two said in unison.
‘Wouldn’t that be pretty valuable to know why it helps him and hurts everything else... including us?”
Josh stood up enjoying that they came to the same conclusion. “You’re damn right.”
Kylie stood up as well with fire in her eyes, “And Moby Dick himself is heading straight past our base!”